WASHINGTON: Investigators led by the FBI’s joint terrorism task force sought clues on Thursday to what drove an Afghan immigrant to open fire on two National Guard soldiers mere blocks from the White House in what officials called an “ambush” attack on Thanksgiving eve.
The suspect worked with “the US government, including CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar,” during the US war in Afghanistan, CIA Director John Ratcliffe told the New York Times and Fox News.
The two soldiers, part of a militarised law enforcement mission ordered by President Donald Trump months ago and challenged in court by Washington DC officials, were hospitalised and had come through surgery, Attorney General Pam Bondi said.
The suspect, who was wounded in an exchange of gunfire before he was arrested, was identified by the Department of Homeland Security as Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national.
Bondi told Fox News on Thursday that the two wounded soldiers were a man and woman.
She said the US government planned to bring terrorism charges against the gunman and seek a sentence of life in prison “at a minimum.”
Trump, who was at his resort in Florida at the time of the attack, released a prerecorded video statement late on Wednesday calling the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror.” He said his administration would “re-examine” all Afghans who came to the US during Joe Biden’s presidency.
Pictures of National Guard members Andrew Wolfe and Sarah Beckstrom.— Reuters
The US Citizenship and Immigration Services agency later said that it has halted processing of all immigration requests relating to Afghan nationals indefinitely, “pending further review of security and vetting protocols.”
According to the DHS, Lakanwal entered the US in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a Biden-era programme to resettle thousands of Afghans who assisted the US during the Afghanistan war and feared reprisals from Taliban forces who seized control of their homeland after the US withdrawal.
NBC News, citing an interview with an unnamed relative of the suspect, reported on Thursday that Lakanwal served in the Afghan army for 10 years alongside US Special Forces troops and was stationed in Kandahar for part of that time.
The relative also said Lakanwal was working for online retail giant Amazon.com the last time they spoke several months ago, according to NBC News.
The DHS did not include other details of his immigration record, but a Trump administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Lakanwal applied for asylum in December 2024 and was approved on April 23 of this year, three months after Trump took office. Lakanwal, 29, who resided in Washington state, had no known criminal history, the official said.
The shooting unfolded at midday outside a subway station in a bustling commercial area within a few blocks of the White House. Secret Service agents placed the presidential mansion under a security lockdown immediately after the shooting as a precaution. — Reuters
